Map style

The Map style setting controls two things at once: which mapping provider renders the tiles behind your finder, and which visual variant of that provider’s style is applied. Changing this setting affects what every visitor sees — the map’s visual appearance, and the attribution text shown in the map corner.

For a side-by-side buyer’s guide comparing all four providers (attribution, cost, recommended use cases), see Map providers.

Where to find it

In the Finder Builder, open the Look & Feel group in the left sidebar and click Map style.

🟡 [SCREENSHOT: The Map style section in the Finder Builder sidebar, showing the provider selector and the style variant strip below it with the dropdown open.]

Providers and style variants

DropAFinder supports four mapping providers. Each provider has a set of visual style variants you can pick from.

TomTom

The default provider for new finders. TomTom tiles offer sharp cartography optimized for location finders, with strong POI labeling and crisp road geometry.

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm exact variant keys in mapSettings.ts — the table above reflects the likely set. There may be additional TomTom variants (e.g., night) or fewer (e.g., hybrid may be absent).]

Mapbox

Mapbox is a popular choice for workspaces that already have a Mapbox account and prefer its design aesthetic. Requires a Mapbox API key (see API keys below).

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm exact Mapbox variant keys (style IDs) from mapSettings.ts / mapSettings.js. Mapbox uses string style URLs like mapbox://styles/mapbox/dark-v11; the table above lists likely labels, not slugs.]

HERE

HERE Technologies provides enterprise-grade tile coverage, particularly strong in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm HERE variant keys. HERE’s tile API uses scheme names such as normal.day, normal.night, satellite.day, hybrid.day — verify which subset mapSettings.ts exposes.]

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap (OSM) is an open-data provider with no API key required. Tiles are served from the OSM public tile servers. Best suited for internal tools, prototypes, or workspaces where cost minimization outweighs tile quality.

OSM currently exposes a single Standard variant (the Carto tile style). The variant picker may be hidden when OSM is selected.

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm whether additional OSM tile variants are supported (e.g., OpenTopoMap, Stamen Toner), and whether the variant picker is hidden when OSM is the active provider.]

⚠️ Warning: OSM public tile servers have usage limits and are intended for low-traffic use. For production finders with significant visitor volume, choose TomTom, Mapbox, or HERE instead.

How to change your map style

1. Open the finder you want to edit in the Finder Builder.
2. In the left sidebar, click Look & Feel to expand the group.
3. Click Map style.
4. In the Provider row, click the provider you want. The Live Preview updates immediately.
5. Below the provider selector, a strip of style variant options appears for that provider. Click the variant you want.
6. Check the Live Preview to confirm the tile appearance looks right alongside your finder’s color theme.
7. Click Save in the top bar to commit the change. Visitors will see the new tile style after the CDN refreshes (within ~5 minutes; see Caching).

🟡 [SCREENSHOT: Map style section in the builder with the provider row showing all four provider options, and the variant dropdown open below showing the available variants for the selected provider.]

💡 Tip: Dark finder themes pair best with the dark tile variant of your chosen provider. A light tile style under a dark theme creates a jarring split between the map and the finder chrome. If you have a dark theme active, switch both your theme and your map variant to dark at the same time.

API keys

Some providers require an API key to load tiles:

• TomTom — DropAFinder manages a shared API key by default. You can supply your own TomTom key to use your own account quota and billing.
• Mapbox — Requires your own Mapbox API key.
• HERE — Requires your own HERE API key.
• OpenStreetMap — No API key required.

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm where customer-supplied API keys are entered in the builder (dedicated “Map keys” section, or inline in the Map style section?). Also confirm whether keys are stored in the finder design payload (visible in the public CDN payload) or proxied through the backend — this has security implications and affects the documentation advice for key management.]

When you supply your own key, tile requests go through your account and count against your plan’s quota. If your key is invalid or your plan’s quota is exceeded, the map will fail to load for visitors.

What changes when you switch providers

Switching providers changes:

• Tile appearance — each provider has a distinct cartographic style.
• Attribution text — the provider’s copyright notice appears in the bottom corner of the map. This is required by each provider’s terms of service and cannot be removed.
• Tile server — requests go to a different CDN. If your visitors are in a region where one provider’s CDN is slower than another’s, this can affect map load time.

Switching providers does not change:

• Your locations, custom fields, or refinements.
• Your finder theme or color tokens.
• Map marker appearance — markers are rendered by the finder widget, not the tile provider.

Fallback behavior

If the selected tile provider is unreachable (network error, quota exceeded, invalid API key), the map area renders a grey placeholder. Your locations and all finder functionality remain available — visitors can still search and filter, and the location list updates normally. Only the map tiles are affected.

🔴 [NEEDS CLARIFICATION: Confirm whether there is an automatic fallback to a secondary provider (e.g., fall back to OSM if the primary fails), or whether the grey placeholder is the only fallback behavior.]

Where to next

• Compare providers in detail: Map providers
• Pair map style with your finder’s color theme: Theme & colors
• Full Finder Builder overview: Finder Builder